


and dawn will chase away the shadows

by CorvidFeathers



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-14
Updated: 2016-12-14
Packaged: 2018-09-08 12:30:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 655
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8845168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CorvidFeathers/pseuds/CorvidFeathers
Summary: Vex's dreams are haunted and Percy doesn't like the dark but they've discovered the joys of not having to sleep alone.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [redledgers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redledgers/gifts).



Roots crept through Vex’ahlia’s dreams.

Roots, twisting, writhing their way through piles of gold and gems that glinted in cold green light.  Roots twisted around sharpened steel, stained rusty red.  She crept amidst the tangled roots, crawling on her hands and knees; sharp surfaces bit into her palms and legs, drawing blossoms of red that bloomed brightly against the pallid greens and greys of the earth surrounding her. 

Something lurked just behind her, something tangled in the writhing roots, so she crawled onwards, fear nipping at her heels.  As she scraped across the gems and bits of steel, the stains of red left behind darkened, until she realized she was no longer bleeding blood; instead a thick black slime dripped from the scratches on her palms.

The earth was closing in around her, suddenly.  She tried cry out but her cry was swallowed by the dirt filling her mouth.  She clawed her way upwards, only to realize she had no idea which way was up and which way was down.  The only thing her fingers met was more roots.  She drew in another breath, gasping, choking, and then-

She woke up.

The first thing she registered was that she was cold.  Her face was to a familiar stone wall; when she looked up, the Sun Tree and symbol of Pelor combination that made up the crest of Whitestone stared down at her.  For a moment, her sleepy mind mused at the need of the de Rolos to decorate so aggressively with their crest- did it really need to be in every guest room in the castle?

And then there was a soft nose beside her, and she remembered that she wasn’t in her room.

She turned over, and realized why she was cold; Percy, who was curled up beside her, had managed to roll himself into all the blankets.  He was fast asleep, but his glasses were still perched crookedly on his face, as if he had not thought to take them off before going to bed, or hadn’t had the energy.

She remembered, now, sitting on his bed as she watched him fiddle with some minor adjustment to one of his inventions.  The hour had been late, and the conversation about weapons and tactics along with the mulled wine they had been drinking pleasantly soporific; Vex had curled up in the midst of listening to Percy ramble, and must have fallen asleep.  Evidently, Percy had stayed up much later.

In fact, he might have only just fallen asleep; a candle was just now guttering out beside the bed.  It lit their corner of the room in a soft, warm glow, so unlike the harshness of her dream.

Percy had done a lot to brush aside his brush with death, but his fear of shadows, of the dark, lingered a little, in moments.  In this instance, Vex was almost glad of it; she was really glad of everything Percy, at that particular moment.  Glad of the fact he never resented her presence, that he seldom failed to light up and show her some new invention that he had been crafting, more often than not, something made for an archer; glad that he would talk to her late into the night, when she couldn’t sleep.

Glad the man who she had given her heart was warm, and passionate, and stubborn, and long-winded, and pompous, and undeniably mortal.  Undeniably in love with her. 

Glad he was here, now, curled up beside her.  Even if he had stolen all the blankets. 

Really, a tinkerer had deft hands, but a rogue was quieter, and she managed to steal a good half of the blankets back without waking him.  She curled up beside Percy, and wrapped her arms around.

When she slept, she dreamed of the warmth of the forge and the smell of black powder, and not the cold roots of the tree that had tried to claim her. 


End file.
